Love that vermillion color used generously in this Pastel Society of Southeast Texas website? Click to read the history of this "small worm" color and the symbolism of the dragon and elephant.. Thanks to Royal Talens.

Karen Vernon Muenzenmayer's demo and mini workshop for May's PSST meeting was outstanding!

As a professional artist myself, I am always wowed when I learn new ideas and techniques in my chosen field. Karen talked about leading the viewer through the painting with your directional hints mostly through the use of value. Decide on your compositional plan - is it a triangle, an x, a tunnel, a steelyard, etc? You must do a value plan where those lights and darks go. It turns out flowers are not that simple - shapes and color are one thing - creating depth, shadow and light are another!

Karen gave each participant in the workshop an 11 x 14 pastelboard in white which we then washed in a tone of our choice with watercolor. We did our thumbnail pencil sketch in grey values then sketched our drawings on our dried boards. Karen helped us all with composition and design. Placing pastel on the panel is a series of marks, a little bit of rubbing, some fresh pastel strokes, and then carving out the shapes of the flowers with contrast values. It was a new experience for me to paint flowers, but getting out of my comfort zone to learn something new was exciting and fun!

I also brought samples of my homemade pastels to show the group what they look and feel like. I brought my supplies to show those who are interested in my November workshop "Make your Own Pastels."  The purpose was to announce that those who wish to participate must start "saving their pastel bits." We can use jar pigment as well, which I also brought to show, but since it is several months away, it would be cheaper and as good to start "SAVING YOUR BITS" !!

Many thanks to Linda Dellandre for the photos and writeup.